The Ides of March
by enigma939
Summary: The night of March 15th, 1973 from the POV's of Lorraine McFly and Biff Tannen...in four different timelines.
1. Twin Pines

**The Ides of March**

**Twin Pines**

**A/N: ** I've noticed that most of my fics have been centred around either Marty or Doc...this is understandable perhaps, given that they are the two central characters of BTTF. However, for a change, I decided to write a fic focusing on some of the _other _major characters in the trilogy...and that led to this fic. Each chapter will focus on the POV's of Lorraine McFly and Biff Tannen on the night of March 15th 1973 (the 'Ides of March', for those who don't know)...in a different timeline. The first chapter is set in the original 'Twin Pines' timeline (before _any _time travel has occurred).

_Thursday, March 15__th__, 1973_

Lorraine Baines McFly sat in the living room, in front of the television, at her house in Lyons Estates. It was late in the evening, about eight o'clock. She'd just got back from dropping her eldest son Dave at a friend's house for a sleepover. Her younger children, Marty and Linda were upstairs in their rooms...she would call them down for dinner once her husband George was back.

Lorraine was waiting impatiently for George...no, not just with impatience, but with a curious kind of anticipation. For today, there was a chance, just a tiny chance, that her husband would get a promotion at work. But not just a promotion, but recognition from his employers and colleagues...recognition of the fact that George McFly had it in him to be a success, to make others proud of him...that _one _McFly at least would amount to something in the history of Hill Valley...

Lorraine _wanted _that to happen. She _needed _that to happen! For as much as she loved George, had loved him since that fateful day her father had hit him with the car, deep down inside she knew that he lacked something. A lot of things actually. He lacked confidence, aggression...a drive to _do_. He was a nice person at heart, truly, and that was something Lorraine had always appreciated about her husband...but she also knew, sure enough, that the meek would _not _inherit the earth...

But tonight, there was a chance that George McFly would be proven to be _not _amongst the meek...

The doorbell rang and Lorraine made her way to the door, opening it and welcoming George in with a level of affection she'd seldom shown him in months.

"Well George", she said, once they'd settled themselves on the couch. "What happened? Did you get it?"

"What Lorraine?" George asked in his usual absent-minded way.

"The _promotion_, George", Lorraine said in a slightly exasperated tone. "Did you get it?"

"Oh", George said. His head sunk and he said in a low monotone, "I didn't get it, Lorraine. I'm sorry".

There was a stunned silence. "But George...you said you'd get it for _sure_...and after all the great work you've done in the past few months..."

"The management said I'd done a good job...but they said I wasn't _exactly _the kind of person they wanted for the job...they said they wanted someone more..._assertive_...like Biff", George said apologetically and shame-facedly.

"Biff", Lorraine spat out the name of George's old tormentor since high school. "Don't tell me _he _got the promotion!"

"He did Lorraine", George said.

"But how? Who in their right minds would recommend that slimy buffoon for such an important job?" Lorraine asked.

George's head sank even lower.

"George!", Lorraine shouted. "Don't tell me you..."

"I _had _to do it Lorraine...he was standing there, right across me when our boss was asking me if I would like to recommend someone else, someone more assertive...and he gave me a look and...well, I had to give his name...besides, he is assertive after all Lorraine...maybe...he _is _the right man for the job! It certainly isn't me..." George muttered.

Something welled up inside Lorraine. Deeply and powerfully. It wasn't anger and it certainly wasn't sorrow. It was something else entirely.

Disgust.

And she had to let it out...

"You IDIOT!" she shouted at George as though he was across the room, though he was in fact right before her. "Can't you just do _one _damn thing right? Can't you at least take advantage of _one _good opportunity? God knows, you've wasted enough in the last eighteen years. If you were a dumb blithering retard, I _might _have understood...but you know what the worst part is, George? You _have _intelligence...you _have _talent...and you just _waste _it away! Like you've wasted most of your life! Like you've wasted _mine_!"

"Please, Lorraine", George said. He was almost on the verge of tears. "Don't say that...I've tried..."

"Don't you _dare _say that George McFly! You've never tried _anything _in your useless life! You never even tried to _kiss _me at that stupid dance in high school..._I _was the one who threw myself onto you. I felt that all you needed was a little more confidence...well, after eighteen godforsaken years, I've realised that you just don't _have _any...and you never will!", Lorraine continued in a harsh tone. Tears were ringing down her face...tears of rage, of frustration...of despair...

George opened his mouth to speak, but he thought better and shut it. Lorraine, even further disgusted by his pathetic failure to even verbally defend himself, ran out of the living room up the stairs.

"Mom", she faintly heard a voice, which in her emotional turmoil, she recognised as that of her nearly five year old son, Marty.

She looked down at her youngest, who was standing there with a frightened expression on his face. "I heard someone shouting...is everything alright?"

Lorraine sighed, "Nothing's alright kiddo. Now just go back to your room. Dinner will be...late".

She then brushed past the even more frightened kid, ran into her bedroom, and slammed the door shut.

Then she threw herself onto the bed and cried her heart out.

For the first time in the almost eighteen years they'd been together...she sincerely wished, with all her heart, that she'd never fallen in love with George McFly...

She even began to wish she could go back in time and prevent it from even happening...

Perhaps _then _her life wouldn't have been such a waste...

Biff Tannen lay down on his couch, in front of the television, a tumbler of iced beer in his hands. Though he'd have much preferred it to be champagne. After all, there _was _cause for celebration today.

By God, it had worked! One look at the Irish Bug and he'd pulled through! And the promotion was Biff's now. He simply couldn't believe how easy it had been, even after all these years...he could scarcely believe how George McFly could be _such _a pushover.

He'd been getting George to do his work for him since high school. Even before that actually. The Irish Bug was clever, Biff had to hand it to him...and also not stupid. He knew that Biff was a lot bigger than him, and so what Biff wanted, Biff would get...

The one time Biff had _not _got what he had wanted was just plain bad luck for him...or extraordinary good luck for McFly. Lorraine Baines had been the prettiest girl in school, and Biff had _wanted _her so badly...but then she went and actually fell for the Irish Bug! And how exactly did George win the heart of Biff's dream girl? By getting hit by her old man's car! Biff had lost all respect for Lorraine after she'd actually _married _the loser and had three kids with him...in his more sadistic moments, he entertained fantasies of Lorraine coming to his door, _begging _him on her knees to save her from the drudgery of her life with McFly...and he would have his way with her and throw her back into the gutter she'd chosen eighteen years ago...Yes, that was what he'd do.

Well, for now, Biff reflected, he'd done enough work for a night. He'd gotten McFly's job...he'd worry about getting his wife later...


	2. Lone Pine

**The Ides of March**

**Lone Pine**

**A/N: **This chapter will focus on Lorraine and Biff's POV's in the 'Lone Pine' timeline (the timeline caused by Marty's original trip back to 1955).

_Thursday, March 15__th__, 1973_

Lorraine Baines McFly sat in the living room, in front of the television, at her house in Lyons Estates. It was late in the evening, about eight o'clock. She'd just got back from dropping her eldest son Dave at a friend's house for a sleepover. Her younger children, Marty and Linda were upstairs in their rooms...she would call them down for dinner once her husband George was back.

Lorraine was waiting for her husband George...not with impatience, not even with anticipation, but with sheer unadulterated _excitement_! For tonight, her husband would be receiving an award for his writing. And not just any award, but a particularly prestigious one...one that would bring him widespread recognition and renown within the literary community...one which would indisputably signify the fact that George McFly had _indeed _made a success of himself! He was the one McFly who _had _amounted to something in the history of Hill Valley...

And once again, Lorraine was reminded of exactly _how _and _why _she fell in love with this man, who had seemed so shy and meek at first, but instead had a tiger ready to roar inside him. She remembered that fateful night, in the parking lot outside the Enchantment Under the Sea dance...when a drunken Biff had tried to rape her...and George had come to her rescue and actually knocked out his long-time tormentor with one punch! That was when she saw the _real _George McFly...the man who had been hidden so far behind all the meekness...

George would claim later that it was all because of 'Marty'...their mysterious mutual friend Calvin Klien...but Lorraine knew that while Calvin may have acted as a stimulus, George had always had it in him to be a winner at life. And he's started his winning streak by winning her heart at the dance, when he'd pushed away the obnoxious ginger-head who was pestering her, and passionate kissed her...

That had been his first victory! Today was the latest one...

The doorbell rang and Lorraine rushed to the door, opening it and literally throwing herself upon George. The two made out at the doorstep like a couple of teenagers for a few seconds before they breathlessly released each other, and Lorraine at last caught a glimpse of the award George had received.

"Here it is, honey", George said beaming, handing her the glistening golden award.

"Oh George! It's beautiful!" Lorraine gushed. "I'm _so _proud of you!"

"I can't believe I've got it...I mean, I've dreamt about it for so long...ever since I'd published my first story and..." George began but Lorraine cut him off... "I always believed you'd get it honey. I knew, deep down inside, that you'd get it".

"Well...I wish you could have been there. And the kids too. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room there to bring our families..." George said, but Lorraine silenced him with a kiss. "It's alright, George...there were others before...and there will be many more to come, I'm sure!"

"You know...I really wish Calvin Klien had been there", George said wistfully. "In a way, I still feel I owe it all to him...without him I wouldn't have the award...I wouldn't even have had _you_. It's really a pity he got lost at sea. I'd always wanted to meet him again and thank him...but we never saw him again after that night".

"Yeah I know", Lorraine said, suddenly morose. She remembered crying when Doctor Emmett Brown, Calvin's uncle, had informed her years ago, of his 'nephew's' tragic demise overseas. She too felt she owed a lot to Calvin...in a strange way; she still loved him deeply...not in a romantic way, of course, but in another way...as though he were family...it was partly why she'd named her youngest son after Calvin's nickname.

"Well...I guess this calls for a celebration...if I may say so myself!" George said, restoring the celebratory mood. "So I've got some champagne in the car".

"I'll go get it honey. You just get yourself freshened up. We'll have a nice quiet drink together and then tell the kids the good news", Lorraine said.

Later, after their celebratory drink, Lorraine made her way up to call the kids, when she saw her nearly five year old son, Marty, starting down the stairs.

"Mom", he asked her. "Is Dad back home?"

"Yes, honey", Lorraine said with a smile. "And guess what...he's won the award!"

"That's great, Mom", Marty smiled and shouted excitedly.

"Now why don't you go downstairs and congratulate dad, while I go wake up Linda", Lorraine said. She then rushed to her room briefly, to retrieve her own special gift she'd got for George when she first got to know he was receiving the award. Smiling at the brand new exquisite French fountain pen she'd bought for him, she couldn't but help reflect on how great her life had turned out.

Once again, as she had done so often before, she said a silent prayer for Calvin Klein's soul, and thanked her one-time 'dream boat' for all he had done to secure hers and George's happiness...

Biff Tannen lay down on his couch, in front of the television, a tumbler of iced beer in his hands. Though he could guess that at this moment, not beer, but champagne was being served at the McFly household.

So the Irish Bug had won the award! Well, not that it was much of a surprise now...not after all these years. _Nothing _George McFly had achieved in the last eighteen years had surprised Biff...nothing since the punch...

He could never have believed McFly had it in him...but just when he felt the Irish Bug would plead with him...swear to stay away from 'his girl' forever...George actually laid him out with one punch!

That night, Biff's reign of terror over the school ended. For, if a complete wimp like George McFly had the guts to stand up to Biff...who wouldn't?

Not that George McFly stayed a wimp for long. He flourished in his senior year of high school...and beyond...with Lorraine eternally at his side.

Lorraine...

Biff had desired her. He'd _wanted _her. And he would have had her too, right there in that car outside the dance, had McFly not punched him. After that, Biff couldn't really grudge him...after all, George had won Lorraine fair and square! He couldn't do anything about it...except curse himself...and the laughing stock he'd become...First the manure, and now _this_...that week in 1955 had changed his life forever.

Things hadn't been _so _bad though. He'd set up his own successful Auto Detailing firm. The McFly's, ironically enough, were his best customers. George McFly seemed to have, over the years, forgiven Biff for all the torment he'd caused him...and even Lorraine seemed to have, slowly but surely, started to forgive him for what he'd _nearly _done to her. He still desired her of course...he always would...but he knew when he was licked. He knew he could never have her now...she belonged to George...he'd won her fair and square...and Biff didn't want to be in George McFly's bad books _ever _again...

He sighed and glanced at the clock. He'd probably have to turn in early...he was due at the McFly house early next morning...and he knew he couldn't afford to be late. Last time he was, George had forced him to give a discount...


	3. 1973A

**The Ides of March**

**1973-A**

**A/N: **This chapter is understandably a lot darker compared to the previous two, since it deals with the POV's of the two characters in the 'Almanac' or 'Hell Valley' timeline (the one in which Biff successfully uses the Almanac to rule over Hill Valley).

_Thursday, March 15__th__, 1973_

Lorraine Baines McFly sat in the living room, in front of the television, at her house in Lyons Estates. It was late in the evening, about eight o'clock. She'd just got back from dropping her eldest son Dave at a friend's house for a sleepover. Her younger children, Marty and Linda were upstairs in their rooms...she would call them down for dinner once her husband George was back.

Lorraine was waiting for her husband George...not with impatience, not even with anticipation, but with sheer unadulterated _excitement_! For tonight, her husband would be receiving an award for his writing. And not just any award, but a particularly prestigious one...one that would bring him widespread recognition and renown within the literary community...one which would indisputably signify the fact that George McFly had _indeed _made a success of himself! He was the one McFly who _had _amounted to something in the history of Hill Valley...

God knows, George needed _something _to be happy about! For in the last several years, there was little Hill Valley could truly be happy about. The town was slowly being torn apart...torn apart and rebuilt to the liking of one man...

Biff Tannen!

And all Lorraine could think about, whenever she thought about George's old tormentor in high school was...this isn't fair!

Biff didn't deserve this...any of it! Not the money, not the fame, not the vast empire, the power and respect...and certainly not the adulation of those who perversely benefited from his ruthless corporate and political manoeuvrings...

Of course, she couldn't kid herself after a point. The real reason why she couldn't stand Biff being successful and triumphant was because of her own history with him...especially that one particular night in November 1955...in the white Packard which belonged to Calvin Klein's uncle...

Lorraine never felt Biff had been punished enough for what he nearly did. Sure, he'd received his comeuppance when George had laid him out with one punch, and won her heart in the process...but somehow, in light of the success Biff had suddenly begun to enjoy three years later, Lorraine could not but help feel he hadn't been punished _enough_...

Instead, fate seemed to have _rewarded _the bastard...with winning streak after winning streak...in gambling, in business, in love (or whatever passed off as it for Biff)...in life...

Sometimes, she felt it was all a bad dream...a nightmare she would wake up from...but every morning when she woke up, it was reality she faced...

Biff _owned _Hill Valley! The only thing he didn't own yet were the souls of its inhabitants...but somehow, she had a dread feeling he would someday in the not too distant future...

And she knew she'd rather die than let him have _her _soul...

Her morbid thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Once again her happy self, Lorraine rushed to the door, desperate to hear some good news. She opened it, and nearly threw herself at the man standing on the doorstep. It was a good thing she didn't...

For the man at the doorstep wasn't George McFly.

The man, and another behind him, was a policeman. Spick and span in the new designer uniforms Biff Co had sponsored for the Hill Valley Police Department, amongst other things.

"Mrs. McFly", the policeman began. "I'm Captain Norman Gale of the Homicide Division" he said, producing a badge.

"Homicide Division?" Lorraine caught the last two words. They were ringing in her head. A feeling of dread steadily began to creep over her...after all, in these troubled times, one could only assume the worst...

"I'm afraid I have some very bad news for you ma'am", Captain Gale said.

The worst had indeed happened.

Lorraine was semi-conscious as the man spoke. Later, she would vaguely remember something about having to come down to the morgue to identify a body...something about gunshots and there being no witnesses...something about an autopsy...

But the details didn't matter...all she could think of at the moment...the one thought that utterly and completely consumed her was that he was dead.

George was dead.

"Ma'am...I know this is very distressing for you, but I feel it is best if you come down with us right away...get this over with", the other cop, Lewis, said.

"F-fine...I'll just...get ready", Lorraine muttered, still in shock, and stumbled upwards towards her room, barely aware of her surroundings. She nearly collided with her nearly five year old son, Marty.

"Mom", Marty said. "I heard noises downstairs...has Dad come home yet? Did he bring the award?"

Lorraine stared at her youngest. Just stared at him speechlessly, his words ringing in her head. _Has Dad come home yet?_

"Honey..." she said in a barely audible voice. "Go to your room...and...and lock the door...be safe...Mommy needs to go out for a while..."

"Mom?" Marty asked, confused. "I don't understand...where's Dad?"

"Mommy's going to meet Daddy", she said in an almost sing-song voice. It sounded like a macabre nursery rhyme. She almost started laughing hysterically.

She then rushed past the bewildered child into her's and George's bedroom...the bedroom which would now be hers' alone...and threw herself on the bed...

She stared at the picture of hers and George's they'd taken just the week after the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance...their first picture as an official couple...

And she felt something inside her give way...

Her soul had gone.

And somehow she felt that Biff Tannen had bought it.

All she could do now was cry her heart out...empty the cavity within her where her soul once was...

Ten minutes later, the two officers found her unconscious on the bed, in a puddle of her own tears, and her face as pale as a corpse.

Forty minutes later, at the morgue, she would faint again, upon seeing a real corpse... 

Little did Lorraine McFly know...that the hell that was the rest of her life...was only beginning...

Biff Tannen sat in his penthouse, polishing his gun...fondling it like a sexual object almost. Of course, soon he would have _real _objects to play around with...after all, in a way, he chuckled to himself, that _had _been the point of the exercise! Apart from the fact that the Irish Bug had become a major nuisance anyway with all his anti Biff Co articles...

Next to him, on a side table, was a glass of champagne. The first of several he would savour through the night. After all, tonight _was _a night of celebration for him. A celebration of his ultimate triumph...and ultimate vindication.

Tonight, the old debt he'd owed George McFly since the fateful night of November 12th 1955, had been repaid.

How easy it had been, to point the gun straight at the Irish Bug's already greying head, and pull the trigger. It was easier still when he thought about the punch...and the humiliation he'd wordlessly endured after that...for the next three years anyway...

But he'd become a success after that, and people stopped mocking him and started applauding him. Revering him even. For he was the 'Luckiest Man Alive'.

He laughed to himself. And to think it was all because of an old codger with a cane.

And thinking about the old man, Biff remembered just about the first thing the man had spoken to him about...

Lorraine.

He'd always _wanted _her. But she'd only had her eyes on George ever since that night...and there was no way that would change. Perhaps, in another life, he would have accepted that fact and moved on. But not in _this _life. Thanks to the Almanac, he'd had the power to _make _things right. He'd already started to remodel the very fabric of Hill Valley's existence in his image...surely, removing a minor obstruction to the one woman he'd always coveted would be nothing...

Nothing but emotionally satisfying, that was.

He recalled vividly that day, when he was picking up his car. What was it Lorraine had said to him? "Biff Tannen, I wouldn't be your girl even if you had a million dollars!"

He laughed out loud as he remembered that one.

Well, we'll soon see about that, he thought to himself.

How ironic it was that it was right after that moment that he'd met the old man who'd changed his life forever.

Irony...or perhaps destiny.

Biff didn't like to think of destiny. He liked to believe he'd forge his own fate...which he had. He'd gone out of his way to be his own master, and master of the fates of others...perhaps in a way to compensate for the fact that it was ultimately a book that foretold the future which had shaped his fate.

Who was the old man? How did he know so much about him? And where had that book come from?

These were answers he'd been curious about for years...but now he couldn't care less. Perhaps the old man was God himself, who'd decided to hand over his powers, the power of fate itself, to him...to rule over the fates of others.

Perhaps it _was _his destiny to become what he had become today...

It didn't matter much now anyway. Tomorrow he would meet Lorraine. He would 'comfort' the grieving widow... 'offer' her and her children a 'home'...and before the year was out, she'd be _his_, one way or another...

The old man had said he'd make it happen...and the old man hadn't lied...


	4. Eastwood

**The Ides of March**

**Eastwood**

**A/N: **This concluding chapter is set in the final 'Eastwood' timeline, though it actually pretty much applies to _any _timeline after Marty burns the Almanac in 1955 and prevents Biff from using it. Lorraine's POV is pretty much the same as the 'Lone Pine' one...Biff's however, is _very _different...I've always felt that Biff's life would have been affected significantly by Marty's second trip to 1955.

_Thursday, March 15__th__, 1973_

Lorraine Baines McFly sat in the living room, in front of the television, at her house in Lyons Estates. It was late in the evening, about eight o'clock. She'd just got back from dropping her eldest son Dave at a friend's house for a sleepover. Her younger children, Marty and Linda were upstairs in their rooms...she would call them down for dinner once her husband George was back.

Lorraine was waiting for her husband George...not with impatience, not even with anticipation, but with sheer unadulterated _excitement_! For tonight, her husband would be receiving an award for his writing. And not just any award, but a particularly prestigious one...one that would bring him widespread recognition and renown within the literary community...one which would indisputably signify the fact that George McFly had _indeed _made a success of himself! He was the one McFly who _had _amounted to something in the history of Hill Valley...

And once again, Lorraine was reminded of exactly _how _and _why _she fell in love with this man, who had seemed so shy and meek at first, but instead had a tiger ready to roar inside him. She remembered that fateful night, in the parking lot outside the Enchantment Under the Sea dance...when a drunken Biff had tried to rape her...and George had come to her rescue and actually knocked out his long-time tormentor with one punch! That was when she saw the _real _George McFly...the man who had been hidden so far behind all the meekness...

George would claim later that it was all because of 'Marty'...their mysterious mutual friend Calvin Klien...but Lorraine knew that while Calvin may have acted as a stimulus, George had always had it in him to be a winner at life. And he's started his winning streak by winning her heart at the dance, when he'd pushed away the obnoxious ginger-head who was pestering her, and passionate kissed her...

That had been his first victory! Today was the latest one...

The doorbell rang and Lorraine rushed to the door, opening it and literally throwing herself upon George. The two made out at the doorstep like a couple of teenagers for a few seconds before they breathlessly released each other, and Lorraine at last caught a glimpse of the award George had received.

"Here it is, honey", George said beaming, handing her the glistening golden award.

"Oh George! It's beautiful!" Lorraine gushed. "I'm _so _proud of you!"

"I can't believe I've got it...I mean, I've dreamt about it for so long...ever since I'd published my first story and..." George began but Lorraine cut him off... "I always believed you'd get it honey. I knew, deep down inside, that you'd get it".

"Well...I wish you could have been there. And the kids too. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room there to bring our families..." George said, but Lorraine silenced him with a kiss. "It's alright, George...there were others before...and there will be many more to come, I'm sure!"

"You know...I really wish Calvin Klien had been there", George said wistfully. "In a way, I still feel I owe it all to him...without him I wouldn't have the award...I wouldn't even have had _you_. It's really a pity he got lost at sea. I'd always wanted to meet him again and thank him...but we never saw him again after that night. I'd heard he was still in town for a few more days, but I never even caught a glimpse of him".

"Yeah I know", Lorraine said, suddenly morose. She remembered crying when Doctor Emmett Brown, Calvin's uncle, had informed her years ago, of his 'nephew's' tragic demise overseas. She too felt she owed a lot to Calvin...in a strange way; she still loved him deeply...not in a romantic way, of course, but in another way...as though he were family...it was partly why she'd named her youngest son after Calvin's nickname.

"Well...I guess this calls for a celebration...if I may say so myself!" George said, restoring the celebratory mood. "So I've got some champagne in the car".

"I'll go get it honey. You just get yourself freshened up. We'll have a nice quiet drink together and then tell the kids the good news", Lorraine said.

Later, after their celebratory drink, Lorraine made her way up to call the kids, when she saw her nearly five year old son, Marty, starting down the stairs.

"Mom", he asked her. "Is Dad back home?"

"Yes, honey", Lorraine said with a smile. "And guess what...he's won the award!"

"That's great, Mom", Marty smiled and shouted excitedly.

"Now why don't you go downstairs and congratulate dad, while I go wake up Linda", Lorraine said. She then rushed to her room briefly, to retrieve her own special gift she'd got for George when she first got to know he was receiving the award. Smiling at the brand new exquisite French fountain pen she'd bought for him, she couldn't but help reflect on how great her life had turned out.

Once again, as she had done so often before, she said a silent prayer for Calvin Klein's soul, and thanked her one-time 'dream boat' for all he had done to secure hers and George's happiness...

Biff Tannen lay down on his couch, in front of the television, a tumbler of iced beer in his hands. Though he could guess that at this moment, not beer, but champagne was being served at the McFly household.

So the Irish Bug had won the award! Well, not that it was much of a surprise now...not after all these years. _Nothing _George McFly had achieved in the last eighteen years had surprised Biff...nothing since the punch...

He could never have believed McFly had it in him...but just when he felt the Irish Bug would plead with him...swear to stay away from 'his girl' forever...George actually laid him out with one punch!

That night, Biff's reign of terror over the school ended. For, if a complete wimp like George McFly had the guts to stand up to Biff...who wouldn't?

But Biff really couldn't kid himself after a point. The truth was, that it wasn't George McFly's success that bothered him. Or even the humiliation he'd suffered after the punch. Not even the fact that he couldn't have Lorraine, the woman he'd always _wanted _so badly...

No...what bothered Biff the most was that deep down inside, he _knew _that things could have turned out differently. That things _would _have turned out differently...if not for the intervention of one person.

Calvin Klien.

And his thoughts, as they always did whenever he thought about this particular subject, flashed back to November 12th 1955.

The very _worst _day of his entire life.

He remembered Lorraine hitting him on the head with the box from the dress-shop. Declaring she wouldn't be his girl even if he had "a million dollars". He remembered shouting across the street like a madman.

He then remembered the old man...the mysterious codger with a cane who somehow seemed to know a lot about him...who literally gave him the keys to a brighter future...

That night, things had gone badly at the dance. Strickland had hassled him and he'd nearly got busted for drinking. He'd tried to have his way with Lorraine, but then the Irish Bug had got the better of him. And what was even worse than that...the very first face he saw when he regained consciousness was that of Calvin Klien...the bastard who'd caused 300 bucks damage to his car!

That bastard kid knocked him out...and actually _stole _the book from him. The book that told the future. He'd got it back and was driving home...he was nearly home free...

And then the kid showed up again out of nowhere, grabbed the book, and was picked up by what looked almost like some sort of spaceship.

A _spaceship_, for Christ's sake!

To make things worse, he'd crashed into a manure truck _again_.

He was arrested for drunk driving. Well, it would have been 'only' reckless driving had he not, in a fit of frustration, blurted out about seeing the 'space-ship'...

He couldn't say much about Calvin Klien...after all, he _had _tried to run over the bastard...he definitely couldn't say anything about the book...or he'd have been committed for sure!

No, all he could do was keep his mouth shut, and try to come to terms with what had happened.

In the last eighteen years, he'd done his best to lead his life and forget about the past...but in his most depressing moments, he couldn't but help think of the Almanac and what _could _have been...

How many hours had he spent endlessly brooding over the loss of a literal fortune...of _several _fortunes in fact? Of innumerable lost opportunities...

How many hours had he spent pondering about the connection between the old man, the Almanac, and Calvin Klien...

Did the old man and Calvin Klien _know _each other? Were they both..._aliens_? How did Calvin Klien know about the book anyway? Why did he want it? Did he use it? Could Calvin Klien perhaps still be somewhere in the world, perhaps enjoying a fortune earned from the book he'd stolen from Biff...? His uncle, the local crackpot Emmett Brown, had claimed he'd died...but was that the truth?

The old man had warned him about a 'kid' and a 'crazy wild eyed scientist'...a kid and a scientist...Calvin Klien and Emmett Brown?

What the hell had been going on anyway?

Books that told the future, old men, pushovers scoring lucky punches, manure truck crashes, spaceships...

Biff felt like the victim of some strange conspiracy on a cosmic scale.

Above all, he simply couldn't rid himself of the feeling that _he _should have been the one celebrating this night, _not _the Irish Bug. That _he _should be the one to own Lorraine; mind, body and soul.

But he wasn't celebrating...and he certainly didn't own her...

And all he could do to avoid that dreadful reality, and to blot out all memory of Calvin Klein's loathsome face from his mind...to blot out all the lost dreams of Almanacs that told the future and untapped fortunes...was to drink himself senseless.

Which he did...

He hoped to God that he'd be sober tomorrow though. He was due at the McFly house early next morning...and he knew he couldn't afford to be late; let alone _drunk_. Lost chances at glory notwithstanding, he was George McFly's employee now..._that _was the reality he lived in, whether he liked it or not.

So he'd put on fake cheery manner, and suck up to the Irish Bug, because that's _all _he was capable of doing now...

It was, perhaps, his true destiny.


End file.
